"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun." - Katharine Hepburn

Tuesday, 25 December 2007

First Christmas Cadeaux

Undaunted by being 3,700 miles apart, Georges and I decided to exchange just one gift today, long distance -- then we'll have the rest of our Christmas celebration on New Year's Eve with the kids back in Paris. I'll be righteously jet-lagged, but too overjoyed to care. So I gave him his gift before I left, all wrapped and ready to go, and he did the same. I've been eyeing my cute little package with great curiosité for the past two weeks, but staunchly and faithfully resisted the impulse to peek. I've also been very eager to watch him open my gift to him, as I knew he'd love it.

Like a young child on Christmas morning, I spontaneously woke up at 5:30 am this morning on pure instinct (I had PLANNED to wake up an hour later) and logged onto my laptop and Skype. A few minutes later, Georges logged onto Skype, too. It's like one of us just knows the other one is there, waiting -- this has happened a few times over the past couple of weeks of our travels, where we plan a time to meet online and then we both show up early. So since I was awake, we decided to open presents, American-style (i.e., on Christmas morning instead of Christmas eve the way they do it in France).

Georges gave me this STUNNING necklace... it goes perfectly with the green sweater I was planning to wear today, and I think I even have some earrings that will complement it. I just love it -- it's so feminine, and says a lot about how Georges sees me -- and I don't have anything else like it. The center piece has some weight to it, which I like because I can FEEL it and know he's with me in spirit today... and it looks great with a bit of a plunging neckline, don't you think?

I, in turn, surprised Georges with a leather-framed set of two photos that Aimee took of us just after Thanksgiving during a Sunday lunch.

The one photo, Georges has already seen and he has a digital copy for his laptop and iPod Touch, but the other one -- taken just seconds before the first one, where he kissed me on the cheek and I have a sort of mischievous look in my eyes -- I kept hidden from him as part of the Christmas gift. Then I found a black leather double frame at Bon Marché to set it off perfectly. Perfect to display at home or take on his next business trip (fortunately those don't happen all that often, as we've both had enough separation for the time being, thank you very much).

And of course, as you can see, I made up a set of photos in a matching silver leather frame for myself. So I've been carrying Georges with me since I boarded the plane twelve days ago. I don't really need a physical photo to bring him into my mind's eye... but it sure is nice to open it, look at it, and see the love in front of me that I already feel so strongly, radiating between us even when we're apart. All I have to do is remember how he looks at me.

Comments

First Christmas Cadeaux

Undaunted by being 3,700 miles apart, Georges and I decided to exchange just one gift today, long distance -- then we'll have the rest of our Christmas celebration on New Year's Eve with the kids back in Paris. I'll be righteously jet-lagged, but too overjoyed to care. So I gave him his gift before I left, all wrapped and ready to go, and he did the same. I've been eyeing my cute little package with great curiosité for the past two weeks, but staunchly and faithfully resisted the impulse to peek. I've also been very eager to watch him open my gift to him, as I knew he'd love it.

Like a young child on Christmas morning, I spontaneously woke up at 5:30 am this morning on pure instinct (I had PLANNED to wake up an hour later) and logged onto my laptop and Skype. A few minutes later, Georges logged onto Skype, too. It's like one of us just knows the other one is there, waiting -- this has happened a few times over the past couple of weeks of our travels, where we plan a time to meet online and then we both show up early. So since I was awake, we decided to open presents, American-style (i.e., on Christmas morning instead of Christmas eve the way they do it in France).

Georges gave me this STUNNING necklace... it goes perfectly with the green sweater I was planning to wear today, and I think I even have some earrings that will complement it. I just love it -- it's so feminine, and says a lot about how Georges sees me -- and I don't have anything else like it. The center piece has some weight to it, which I like because I can FEEL it and know he's with me in spirit today... and it looks great with a bit of a plunging neckline, don't you think?

I, in turn, surprised Georges with a leather-framed set of two photos that Aimee took of us just after Thanksgiving during a Sunday lunch.

The one photo, Georges has already seen and he has a digital copy for his laptop and iPod Touch, but the other one -- taken just seconds before the first one, where he kissed me on the cheek and I have a sort of mischievous look in my eyes -- I kept hidden from him as part of the Christmas gift. Then I found a black leather double frame at Bon Marché to set it off perfectly. Perfect to display at home or take on his next business trip (fortunately those don't happen all that often, as we've both had enough separation for the time being, thank you very much).

And of course, as you can see, I made up a set of photos in a matching silver leather frame for myself. So I've been carrying Georges with me since I boarded the plane twelve days ago. I don't really need a physical photo to bring him into my mind's eye... but it sure is nice to open it, look at it, and see the love in front of me that I already feel so strongly, radiating between us even when we're apart. All I have to do is remember how he looks at me.

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